sportsjabber.net

There’s a lot of concrete*on-court*evidence to think the Pacers will seal the deal and continue playing beyond their regular-season finale April 13.*Here are a few*of those things:

• Competitive against top*teams in East. This*really is no surprise to*those*who*have followed the Pacers the past few*seasons; Indiana has become*notorious for playing to the level of its competition*each*night,*which has resulted in spirited efforts and wins against the best teams in the NBA*as well as*clunkers and losses to the league’s worst squads.*It’s a disturbing trend during the regular season, but it’s good news in this*instance because Indiana will only face the best of the best come playoff time. The Pacers have*pocketed home*victories*the last two weeks against*the first-place Chicago Bulls — likely Indiana’s first-round opponent should it make the playoffs — and the third-place Boston Celtics. Of course, the win against Boston came on the heels of a pair of horrid weekend losses to bottom-feeders Sacramento and Detroit, but*the trend could play in the Pacers’ favor in these last five games. Four of their last five games come against playoff contenders (New Orleans, Atlanta, New York and Orlando).

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